


Renewal

by Anonymous033



Category: Conviction (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8799457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous033/pseuds/Anonymous033
Summary: “I promised Naomi I would never cheat on her,” she tells him, her voice rough, “and I’m not going to help you do that. You need to go.” // “I’m sorry I told you you were worm food,” she says. His urn stays silent and unforgiving. “It was presumptuous of me.”Tag fic to 1x09 "A Different Kind of Death". Hayes learns to move on.





	

“Wait.” The anguished cry is torn from Hayes’ throat almost before she’s aware of it herself. She steps back, hands pressed against Conner’s chest.

Conner drops his arms, waiting. Against her will, she tears up again, her jaw clenching.

She hates how his eyes welcome her as they betray his girlfriend. She hates how complicated he is—caring, but ambitious and calculating. She hates how she’s drawn into this mess over and over again.

“I promised Naomi I would never cheat on her,” she tells him, her voice rough, “and I’m not going to help you do that. You need to go.”

Conner stands still and waits.

“Wallace, _go,_ ” she says again, more firmly, and he acquiesces, turning on his heel and exiting through the doorway from which he had entered.

She shuts and locks all doors to her room behind him, and then she sits down at the foot of her bed and gives in to her tears again.

If Conner hears her cry herself to sleep that night, he’s kind enough not to mention it in the morning.

———

The flight home is quiet.

“Drop me off where Naomi’s staying,” Hayes says when they’ve landed and collected their bags and are clambering into the polished black car idling outside Arrivals.

He looks at her and apparently decides not to call her out on the bottle of whiskey she’s fishing from the cooler box.

“You gonna tell her?” he asks instead from the other end of the back seat. It’s ironic how much space they can put in between themselves if they want to.

“Of course,” she says, drinking straight from the bottle.

“That might hurt her,” he says.

“You would know,” Hayes replies, and that shuts him up.

———

Whatever Naomi sees when she opens the door of her room clearly worries her enough for concern to morph her features.

“Hayes?” she questions uncertainly, and Hayes tries to keep her voice steady as she asks for permission to enter. Naomi steps aside; Hayes goes in and stands in a corner, feeling small and awkward and like an intrusion.

 _Always an intrusion,_ her mind hisses.

“What’s wrong?” Naomi asks, pressing a hand to Hayes’ arm.

“I’m—so sorry.”

“Why? What happened?”

“We kissed.”

Naomi’s hand drops as she takes a step back.

“You and Conner?” she asks. Hayes doesn’t bother clarifying; it’s merely a stall for time, because the chances of Naomi not knowing that Hayes and Conner have been out of state together for the past week are very small. “I don’t understand. Did you trip and fall on his lips?”

 _He kissed me first,_ Hayes wants to defend herself, but she doubts it would bring any solace to Naomi. “We didn’t do anything else,” she murmurs instead.

“You _kissed,_ ” Naomi points out. “And why are you here telling me this, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Hayes answers, because she doesn’t. She thinks she might be doing it out of altruistic intent, because Naomi deserves honesty; she thinks she might also be doing it out of selfishness, to alleviate her guilt.

She has no idea.

Her life is a mess, and she has no idea what she’s doing anymore.

Naomi looks at her, equal parts angry and nonplussed. “Okay. I, um, I think I need—time. To absorb this.”

Hayes knows a dismissal when she hears one. She leaves Naomi rooted to the same spot as when she had entered the room.

Her luggage bag makes soft chafing noises as it rumbles along the tiled floor she drags it across.

———

The world refuses to come to a standstill just because of one man’s death.

Hayes throws herself into her work; reconnects with her team, which had been thrown slightly off-kilter by Conner’s temporary presence, and solves case after case after case.

She visits Earl when she learns where his urn has been placed.

“I’m sorry I told you you were worm food,” she says. His urn stays silent and unforgiving. “It was presumptuous of me. I don’t—know anything. I’ve never even had a near-death experience, which is stupid considering how many risks I take.

“I hope you’re happy in Heaven,” she adds. “I bet it has a lot of corn chips. And _Stairway to Heaven_ playing on repeat, just … to be funny. It must be driving you crazy, but that means you’re finally where you’d hoped to be.”

She dries her tears and brushes her fingers, kissed by her lips, to an edge of the plaque with his name on it. She makes him a promise to return soon.

———

Naomi drops by her office.

It’s late one night when the woman appears, coiffed as usual in a pencil skirt and an impeccably pressed blouse, and she settles into one of Hayes’ armchairs and begins, “I broke up with Conner.”

Hayes only stares dumbly at her.

“He’s all yours, if you want him,” Naomi continues.

Hayes doesn’t know how else to respond, so she asks, “Are you moving back to Chicago?”

Naomi arches an eyebrow. “That eager to get rid of me?”

“No,” Hayes answers quickly. “I—stay. _Please._ ”

Naomi watches her for a long time.

Hayes knows what she’s looking to find—that undercurrent of competitiveness Hayes has always shared with her; the urge to outsmart, outtalk, outmanoeuvre each other less so out of real enmity and more so out of charged intrigue.

She chooses to remain open; vulnerable; deliberately guileless this time.

It’s the least she can do after everything that’s happened.

“I haven’t forgiven you,” Naomi finally decides. “But I have taken the job, so we might still cross paths someday. Maybe with time, Hayes.”

_Maybe with time._

Hayes nods, and Naomi rises and smoothens down her blouse.

‘Take care of yourself’ are latter’s parting words, her tone thankfully kind and not too final.

———

Hayes brings Earl flowers the next time she visits him.

“I hope you like lilies,” she says. “I’m not all up on flower meanings, but this seemed like a pretty safe bet. They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

She leaves the mausoleum to a bright day.

* * *

Crossposted to: [Tumblr](http://anonymous033.tumblr.com/post/154251664372/renewal-a-hayes-morrison-one-shot-tag-to-1x09)


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